The Pig and Whistle was demolished in 2001 when Redcar was redeveloped, Dave Woods has kindly contributed the following photos and his memories of the pub.

The location for anyone who does not know was where Morrisons car park now stands just before the railway crossing.

Not being brought up in Redcar and moving there in 1970 I don’t know too much about it’s early years. It was well liked for the quality of the beer pulled with a massive creamy head that they called a boiler. As you can see from the door it used the be The Alexandra Hotel in former years

The original entrance on West Dyke Road can just be made out below the Fosters Lager sign

The name Pig and Whistle, I was told years ago was a nickname for the place. The whistle from the trains and I’m assuming pigs nearby. People brought ornamental pigs from all over the world to give to the pub. Some of these can be seen in this photo taken in the bar.

The landlord at the time told me that he had boxes and boxes full of pigs upstairs but had nowhere to put them. I wonder where they all are now. When the pub was relocated to Station Road as much as possible of the old bar woodwork was reinstalled there but to me it’s not like the old place.

Dave Woods.

As a footnote, I located these two photos of the Alexandra in 1935

One wing of the Coatham Hotel was never completed in the style of the rest of the building and the Windsor Ballroom was added some time between 1955 and 1961 (see discussion in comments). In later years it became a nightclub and a gym.

The lop-sided appearence of the hotel made it perfect to be a bombed out Dunkirk ruin when Atonement was filmed in Redcar in 2006

The building has remained derelict since with its French set-decorations still on display, until August 2011 when its been given a fresh coat of paint and is now covered.

Redcar once had an outdoor swimming pool and paddling pool next to the existing boating lake.

I recall perhaps 20 years ago the curve of the large pool was visible in the waste land between the boating lake and the swimming baths (now demolished)
This area is currently being redeveloped for the Tuned In / myPlace centre, while this was happening I noticed a lot of concrete has been dug out of that area.


Its possible these are the remains of the swimming pool, although I also have a recollection of some concrete steps leading into the ground in this area, so it could also just be an old drainage tank of some sort.

Update : Some discussion below has pointed out the concrete was actually the skating rink, thanks to those involved for clearing that up.

The redevelopment of Redcar seafront has revealed the old Palace Cinema which sits over the top of the deserted amusement arcade which is to become “The Hub”

Theres a much more detailed “Palace Watch” blog being kept which also contains the history of the Palace

Below are some photos that appeared on Redcar.net, but its currently offline so I cannot credit them to the right people, if they are yours let me know.

Update : All trace of the Palace are now gone as ‘The Hub’ gets built in its place.

On the morning of 31/05/2011 this 44 foot long, 35 tonne beached sperm whale was found on Redcar beach, sadly it died shortly afterwards.

 

For a few days the efforts to remove it from the beach became an unlikely tourist attraction.